[LINK] Statement of Principles: Copyright and the FTA

[Glen Turner]

On Mon, 2004-06-28 at 09:01, Deus Ex Machina wrote:
> this is typical of religious arguments, arguing in favor of some
> position based on belief without any supporting facts.

A "statement of principles" isn't an essay.  The ADA has
plenty of those elsewhere on its web site.

>  I can not find any reference to research or fact on the ADA web site.

You can't have looked very hard. Even within the Principles I can see:

 - a reference to a report of the Copyright Law Reform Commission

 - a reference to "fierce debate even in the US" which is easily
   discoverable using Google.

Under the "submissions" button you'll find documents containing the sort
of closely-argued, well-referenced essays you state that you can't find.
To help you find that button -- look to the top of the home page.

> the entire thrust is predicated on obscure and unmeasurable
> ideals like the "public good" and the opinion of members.

Principles are statements of ideals. They should be argued from
philosophical basis.  The "public good" is not an obscure or recent
philosophical notion -- Tacitus is critical of Nero because of Nero's
individual gratification to the neglect of the public good ("pro bono
publico").

The public good is measurable.  Since the spectacular failure of some
1960/70s development projects because of narrow measures of progress,
practical Developmental Economics has had a sustained focus on the
measurement of the public good. But even within the System of National
Accounts it's pretty clear that the intellectual property changes of the
AUSFTA are a loss for Australia.

I'm particularly fond of your odd notion that a lobby group should
represent interests that *aren't* those of its members :-)  With that in
mind, I'm expecting you'll be writing a cheque to the Socialist Workers
Party hoping they'll start advocating Victorian-era capitalism.

Regards,
Glen